Random Entire System Stutter when using Throttlestop

[dougy_waller]

I've had this problem for a few months, it didn't bother me at first, but it has began to bug me.
My entire system: meaning any keystrokes, mouse movement, and what is displayed on the screen, will freeze for 1/4 a second, then continue as normal.
This happens randomly, once every ~1-10 hours and I believe it began after I had finished setting up my Throttlestop Settings using This reddit guide by Valor-549.
It was the only thing I was able to isolate as the problem at this point, and I thought I had set up a stable undervolt.

Specs:
Laptop: ASUS SCAR 18 (2024)
BIOS: 320 (12B microcode)
GPU: RTX 4080M 175W limit
CPU: 14900HX 175W limit
RAM: 32GB 5600MHz CL40 Kingston Fury
STORAGE: 2TB Samsung 990 PRO, 1TB SK Hynix PC801 1TB

I originally had a -140mv undervolt on core and p-cache, with a -70 e-cache undervolt as well, all p-cores locked to 5.2GHz
drastic testing was done, ran cinebench R23, TS-bench, played through every CPU intensive game on my system, minecraft, marvel rivals, NFS Heat, BeamNG, Teardown, all over the span of ~3 weeks
NO BSODs, crashes, or WHEA_Errors, but this stutter appeared and I thought maybe my GPU undervolt caused it, but I disabled my GPU and it still occurred.
I tried lowering the undervolt to -30mv on both caches and the core, but it still happened. Only until I stopped throttlestop from running, then restarted did it stop.

I would like help diagnosing what in throttlestop i need to change to fix this. I am uncomfortable with the stock temps and 1.544V that intel gives to my chip on desktop despite the 1.55V cap that 12B introduces.

Thank you very much! I linked my throttlestop profile in the bottom.

 

[lambda]

I had the same issue on a i5 8400H system back in the day. The only way to address it was reducing the undervolt.

Try removing the UV on the cache and see if it makes a difference.

 

[unclewebb]

will freeze for 1/4 a second,

I think I have the exact same problem. After reading your post, I left clicked on the Google Chrome title bar and moved the mouse. It took close to a second to respond before the window suddenly jumped. After that I tried doing the exact same thing many, many times and there was zero hesitation. I do not know what is causing this.

I thought this might be related to a Windows debloater script that I ran months ago. One of those scripts that removes Windows features. It almost seems like Windows goes looking for something that is no longer installed and hangs for a second not knowing what to do. What version of Windows are you using? Have you run any similar debloater apps? I am using Windows 11 23H2. I might install Windows 10 just to see if this problem is Windows 11 related.

I do not think this bug is being caused by ThrottleStop or any of your voltage settings. At the moment I just don't know. I will do some testing without running ThrottleStop to see if these moments of hesitation continue.

If you are convinced that ThrottleStop is the cause of this then try using Intel XTU. You could also try running ThrottleStop so it sets the voltages and then exit ThrottleStop. The voltages should still be maintained as long as no other program like XTU is running in the background.

The sky high voltage that microcode 0x12B uses is too high for me. I have decided to stay on microcode 0x116.

Edit - My programming computer has a 10850K and is running Windows 10. ThrottleStop is always running on that computer and never once have I experienced a hang like I get when running my debloated Windows 11 on my laptop.

 

[dougy_waller]

I thought this might be related to a Windows debloater script that I ran months ago. One of those scripts that removes Windows features.

I am using W11 23H2 OS Build: 22631.5189
I used a few debloaters as well on this device. but I have since stopped using it when working on other's computers as some features (like onedrive) get disabled accidentally even if not selected. I've found it isnt worth it in the long term.

What I used was Ultimate Windows Tweaker, WPD and OOSU10 so I could pick which features I wanted to remove. i did some registry edits as well like disableStartupDelay, disablePrefetch, and disableDSearching. I have since reapplied a -120mv under-volt on just the core leaving both caches at 0mv to see if that fixes the issue. I'll keep you updated if I get any more stutters of the sort.

Do you remember what script you used? I am curious.

 

[unclewebb]

what script you used?

I think it was this one.

How to Debloat Windows 11 to Improve Performance

Find out how to debloat Windows 11 completely and remove junkware, unncessary apps, stubs, promotional ads and background tracking services.

beebom.com

It might also be the track pad. Either a bad driver or the track pad simply gets frozen for up to a second. Frustrating trying to track down intermittent issues like this. A CPU with 24 cores and 32 threads all running at max speed should be powerful enough to move a mouse around the screen without any issues.

I noticed in the Device Manager that I have a PS/2 compatible mouse listed that has a, "This device cannot start" error message. I am going to disable that and see if it makes any difference.

After I do a clean install of 24H2, I will avoid doing any debloating to see if the problem is still there or not.

 

[dougy_waller]

I have disabled any type of Cache undervolting, and as far as I can tell the stutter still appears, I just got a whole system 1/4th second stutter a bit earlier.
For the next couple of days I will leave throttlestop disabled completely and keep updated.

If it re-occurs with throttlestop disabled I will reinstall windows once I have returned home. If it goes away, i will still most likely reinstall, without using those debloaters

 

[dougy_waller]

I have run windows for a couple days w/o Throttlestop or any under-volt applied and the stutter still occurs, so I will reinstall windows soon.
Throttlestop is not the problem, it is most likely due to the debloat I did.
Everything else I have open in the background is the following:

• Discord
• TranslucentTB
• Spotify
• Rivatuner SS
• ASUS Hotplug Controller
• ASUS Monitor Control

I had a few stutters. I checked Event Viewer and there were four instances in the past two hours of "System Restore": Failed to create restore point, so I will monitor that next

Luckily my home wifi is pretty good, so it wont take too long to reinstall everything, but lesson learned..

 

[unclewebb]

ThrottleStop is not the problem

Thank you for doing some more testing. If you ever reinstall Windows without any debloating, let me know if this fixes things.

The only significant stutter I have recently is when trying to drag the Google Chrome window. Left clicking on the title bar and moving the mouse will completely hang for close to a second. This seems to happen almost always just after resuming from sleep. The lag will only happen once. Any window dragging after the first one is as smooth as it should be. Maybe big brother is doing a screen capture and sending my data somewhere.

Event Viewer

I cannot remember ever looking in the Event Viewer. It is always a surprise when I do get around to having a look.

 

[Girofox123]

I think it was this one.

How to Debloat Windows 11 to Improve Performance

Find out how to debloat Windows 11 completely and remove junkware, unncessary apps, stubs, promotional ads and background tracking services.

beebom.com

It might also be the track pad. Either a bad driver or the track pad simply gets frozen for up to a second. Frustrating trying to track down intermittent issues like this. A CPU with 24 cores and 32 threads all running at max speed should be powerful enough to move a mouse around the screen without any issues.

I noticed in the Device Manager that I have a PS/2 compatible mouse listed that has a, "This device cannot start" error message. I am going to disable that and see if it makes any difference.

View attachment 394719

After I do a clean install of 24H2, I will avoid doing any debloating to see if the problem is still there or not.

I had a similar issue once too on my laptop. You probably have an Touchpad connected via I2C and not PS/2. But many keyboards are connected via PS/2.

You can check that when you select the device with yellow triangle and go to View -> device by connection at the top. Then you get the proper tree view.

At the PS/2 device right click and select "uninstall device". Select the checkbox for removing driver too. You don't need any third party driver for mouse, keyboard and touchpad anymore.